Technically Speaking

By Alan Shackleton, Director of Maintenance

As winter rapidly approaches, aircraft owner/operators need to take some basic precautions to ensure their aircraft are prepared for the cold.

First, lose that 50 weight oil. Most airplanes we service use a multi-grade oil in the winter. Either 15W50 or 20W50 depending on brand. Some use a light straight-weight such as Aeroshell W65. The summer straight weight oil will have a real hard flowing at start-up. This will cause internal damage and shorten the life of your precious engine. If you plan to continue to fly this winter, change to lightweight oil. If you plan to let the airplane sit all winter, change to oil with more preservative additives. In any case, get that acidic black junk out of there before it eats into your bearings, cam and crankshaft. Change the filter while you are at it.

Secondly, keep your airplane in a heated hangar if possible. If heat is not available, consider an electric pre-heater such as a Tanis or Reiff. Use these products per the instruction manuals.

Service your battery. Clean the terminals. Fill with distilled water and make sure it is kept charged. We have battery tenders that will work on both 12 and 24 volt systems. They are a little pricey at $159.00, but if they keep your battery working a bit longer and save you the hassle of not starting, getting it jumped, etc. it’s worth it.

Finally, if none of these suggestions are palatable, move to a warmer climate. We are all doing our part to increase greenhouse gasses, which according to some, will turn Northern Illinois’ climate into one much like Tucson, but my guess is, it probably won’t happen before spring.

Also, winter is everybody’s favorite time to get his or her annual done, so I suggest you call early to get a spot on our schedule. A call on November 27^th requesting an annual be done by the end of the month doesn’t work very well. However a call on November 1^st is much easier to schedule.

Fly Safely.

Remember when the only way to get current weather was by calling a FSS briefer, who gave a picture in great detail of what was happening and what to expect. Now we have all the charts at our fingertips via the Internet, from excellent sources such as the NOAA, DUATS and Intellicast, just to name a few. What a deal! Great colors, enhanced pictures, moving maps! But after looking at chart after report after forecast, the overwhelmed pilot may wonder which ones are the best? What info can be derived? Which ones apply to me?

So, what does the FAA require that we know? FAR 91.103 dictates that for all flights the pilot must obtain all available information. Gee, that’s specific. If I were to call a briefer, I would ask for a Standard Briefing. On the web try NOAA Aviation Weather Center or DUATS. The latter will require you to create an ID and Password, but gives a plain language briefing as well as create a flight log and even allow you to file your flight plan. Both allow you to select a Standard Briefing option. NOAA supplies you with charts you will recognize from that FAA written test; a little hard to see and to read, and you must pick your way through them.

Let’s start with getting info for a local flight out of Morris. Go to the NOAA, Standard Briefing option on the left tab. Scroll down to the Notices to Airmen. Click on FAA’s Pilotweb NOTAM page. Choose radius search. Type in C09 and you will get all NOTAMS in a designated radius. The Graphic TFR link takes you to the FAA TFR site (the same as on the Blue Sky Aero website). OK, now for current and forecast weather. Click on the METARs link on the left and fill in KC09 KARR KDPA and K-any other airport of your choosing and click the METAR and TAF boxes. You will have to put that groundschool work to use and read the encrypted reports, but this is the source for the most current conditions. The METARS are updated every few minutes from an ASOS and AWOS report, and about 10 till the hour at a tower field. The Terminal Forecast is valid for 24 hours and is updated at 0000Z (6pm CST), 0600(12pm CST), 1200Z (6am CST) and 1800Z (12pm CST). Don’t just check for Morris, as a single station doesn’t give the big picture of the local area. Click on the top tabs for some visuals showing turbulence, radar, and for some prog charts. The FA tab on the left gives the Area Forecast. Click on the CHI area. FA’s are issued 3 times a day. The synopsis will have a brief summary of the location and movements of fronts, pressure systems, and other circulation features for an 18-hour period. Scroll down to find IL for a 12-hour specific forecast, followed by a 6-hour categorical outlook. Lastly I take a quick look at Intellicast Radar, just to see if anything popped up. Remember it does not tell you if there are clouds, just moisture that reflects the signal. A bunch of green on the radar may just mean high clouds full of water, or low clouds with drizzle and poor visibility. Radar is one source of many to help make a decision.

Type in your zip code at the top of the NOAA’s Aviation Weather Center page to get a Weather Channel-type forecast for the whole week, probably soon with little pictures showing wind and/or snow J

A briefer is still the best to receive last minute Notams or TFR’s, as well as any other brand new info. Remember to monitor Guard on 121.5while in flight if able; if you happen to get near a TFR restricted area they will try to call you!

DUATS has the advantage over NOAA for having a Standard Briefing in plain language in the same order as a briefer would deliver, although they do not post the weather as timely. From what I understand, the NOAA and DUATS websites are currently the only FAA approved weather sources, but there are some other great sites out there! Try going to a search engine and typing in Aviation Weather and you will be overwhelmed.